Suddenly, I can’t seem to get my budget to balance. My income has gone down and my expenses have gone up, but I didn’t think that it was going to effect me as much as it has.
First, my child support has gone down $80-100 a month. Jim had to pay arrears in the amount of $20 per week, but he’s paid it off. In reality, I didn’t think it was going to effect my bottom line, because I take the money he pays and put it in an account earmarked for Shaunna’s college. When the amount went down, so did the amount I was saving in her account, but I didn’t decrease the overall amount I was saving. In fact, I increased it $40-50 per month, putting the difference in my emergency fund.
Then, my rent went up $67 per month. I’m lucky that my rent is based on my income, and since my income increased, so did the rent. I’m happy about the increase in income, so I can swallow the rent increase.
Gas prices have increased again. I’ve had to buy new tires and I have to register the car this month.
I paid off the loan from my father, and I thought I would be able to start applying that amount to my attorney’s bill, but then Shaunna and I had our teeth cleaned, x-rays for me, and fillings for her, so that money is now going to the dentist every month.
So, what’s a girl to do? Here are my short term goals:
- Lower savings to $200 per week instead of $300 per week.
- Call auto insurance company and drop collision. (My van is 10 years old. It’s time to stop paying for coverage I don’t need.)
- Compare auto insurance prices.
- Stop using credit cards as a stop-gap at the end of the month when the money runs out. Then I won’t have to stress about paying those suckers in full the following month.
- Start filling my van with gas in Massachusetts when I am there once a week already. Gas is $0.11 a gallon less, so that will save me roughly $7.50 a month.
- Stop eating out. Period. This is going to be easier now that I use Peapod to get my groceries instead of waiting until there is absolutely no food in the house.
- Find out when my cell phone contract is up and price plans with other carriers.
- Quit smoking. There’s a savings of over $200.00 a month.
Mid term goals:
- Get emergency fund back to $1,000. I need about $525.00
- Replace $6,500 into downpayment fund that I have spent over the last 6 months. (Oh, that hurt admitting that.)
How am I going to do this?
- Work as much overtime as I can to accomplish these goals over the next 6 months.
- Snowflake any money that I come in under budget towards my emergency fund first, then towards my downpayment fund.
- Blog monthly updates about my progress toward reaching these goals.
This is thoughtful and motivating. Your plan is well thought out, detailed, and achievable (well, easy for me to say!). I wish you luck in reaching your goals. Do it!
I’d like to suggest something for possibly cutting your grocery bill down every month. I’m not sure if there is a host site in your area, but it’s worth looking into. Angel Food Ministries is a food purchasing program that allows ANYONE regardless of income to purchase food at a reduced price. This is done once per month and has helped my family save around 50% on our grocery costs. I believe in it so much that we started a host site at our church a year ago.
You can search by zip code for host sites in your area by visiting http://www.angelfoodministries.com.
God Bless, and keep putting money in savings, you’ll be glad you did!
One of the big things helps me get through is the very last item on your list, “Blog monthly updates about my progress toward reaching these goals.” It has helped me so much to keep on track and meet my goals.
Speaking of which, I need to think about doing that for June…
Good luck on your goals, by the way – you can do it!